These Cars Will Depreciate The Least Over The Next Five Years

While mostly consisting of Japanese and German cars, Edmunds Best Retained Value Awards contain a couple surprises.

One of the biggest costs of buying a new car isn't insurance, tax, or financing. Instead, it's a hidden cost called depreciation that hits your pocketbook the most when you decide it's time to move on to a new set of wheels. Each year, Edmunds' bestows its Best Retained Value Awards upon models that depreciate the least over five years of ownership using its own True Market Value measurement. For 2018, Toyota and Porsche have again run away with handfuls of trophies.

In all, Edmunds gives out 20 separate trophies as part of its Best Retained Value Awards—two for brands and 18 for different market segments. Toyota took the “Standard” brand award, beating out Honda and GMC, while Porsche took the “Luxury” brand trophy to lord over Acura and Lexus. For cars, Edmunds gave out eight separate awards: Honda Civic (Compact Car), Audi A3 (Luxury Compact Car), Honda Accord (Midsize Car), Lexus ES (Luxury Midsize Car), Dodge Charger (Large Car), Porsche Panamera (Luxury Large Car), Subaru WRX (Sports Car), and Porsche 911 (Luxury Sports Car).

Moving on up to SUVs, Edmunds gave out a total of six trophies to the Honda CR-V (Compact SUV), Porsche Macan (Luxury Compact SUV), Toyota 4Runner (Midsize SUV), Lexus GX 460 (Luxury Midsize SUV), Toyota Sequoia (Large SUV), and Cadillac Escalade (Luxury Large SUV). Toyota nearly swept the truck and van categories, taking home honors for the Toyota Tacoma (Midsize Truck), Toyota Tundra (Large Truck), and Toyota Sienna (Minivan). The Large Van award was given to the Nissan NV Cargo.

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Porsche Wanted To Build An SUV 45 Years Before The Cayenne Arrived

This is the story of the 597 Jagdwagen.

Things have never been the same for Porsche since it launched the first generation Cayenne SUV back in 2002. Many Porschephiles still haven’t gotten over the fact their beloved sports car brand branched out beyond ass-engined and GT driver’s cars. Their heads nearly exploded when the Panamera arrived in 2009, and ultimately did so upon the Macan’s 2014 debut. But back in the mid-1950s, Porsche designed and built the 597 Jagdwagen, which translates to “hunting car.”

It looks very much like a post-WWII SUV, but don’t think of it as the Cayenne’s ancestor. They have absolutely nothing in common, mechanically speaking. The 597 was very much a rough and rowdy SUV without a hint of luxury or comfort. Back then, Porsche was still trying to find its footing in the industry; was it going to stick solely with sports cars, like the 356 and 550 Spyder? Perhaps not. Porsche figured it was worth taking a shot at winning a NATO-issued tender for a light army-transport vehicle inspired by the original American Jeep. The 597 Jagdwagen was the result, and it had one significant thing in common with the 356: it was also rear-engined.

Both 1.5- and 1.6-liter air-cooled flat-fours were prepared, though the latter was the “premium” engine with a grand total of 50 hp. Top speed? Around 62 mph. Weighing just under 2,200 pounds, the 597 Jagdwagen came with a five-speed manual gearbox – a lot of gears at the time – and the capability of switching between two- and four-wheel drive on the fly. Like any good German-built vehicle, the Jagdwagen was very purposeful, offering solid off-road capability and even managing a climbing gradient of 65 percent. It also had some amphibious capabilities, specifically floating without taking on water. Its monocoque shell did not have doors, but the high sills made it difficult for passengers to climb in and out.

For better or worse (depending on whom you ask), Porsche lost the tender to the DKW Munga, an off-road vehicle built by Auto-Union, the predecessor to today’s Audi. Its winning 4x4 went on to have a 12-year production run with 46,000 examples built. However, selling the car to civilians and private owners wasn't easy. As for Porsche, instead of ending the prototype project completely, it wanted to try to rebrand the Jagdwagen as a 4x4 aimed at hunters, and those who worked in outdoor professions. Porsche invested 1.8 million Deutschmarks into the project, an especially large sum at the time. It wanted the 597 Jagdwagen to find appeal somehow, as the company wasn’t in the mood to take a financial hit just yet.

The result was a somewhat refined civilian version 597 Jagdwagen, now equipped with doors. It could still float, though it was by no means seaworthy. A grand total of 71 units of the 597 were from 1955 until 1958, although just 49 were made for civilians. Not all of them survive today, but the few that do sell for some serious bank. Jerry Seinfeld had one in his vast Porsche collection that later sold for $330,000 at auction. Unlike any generation Cayenne, the 597 Jagdwagen was ugly, but in a cool way. It was designed to be purposeful, not stylish. And in some ways it was ahead of its time; who knew back then that Porsche SUVs would make up a majority of its annual sales.

Aside from its looks, perhaps one reason why the 597 Jagdwagen didn’t find buyers was because it simply looked too much like a German military vehicle. Anything with even a hint of a connection to the Nazis in post-war Germany was considered taboo.

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Porsche Reveals Its Top 7 Cars Of The Past 70 Years

You can probably name three off the top of your head.

This is a big year for Porsche. Not only are sales as strong as ever (and growing), but it’s also celebrating its 70th anniversary. Considering the German carmaker started off solely selling a sports car, it’s done phenomenally well over the decades. As the celebration continues into the summer, Porsche has released a new video showcasing seven icons in seven decades. It’s not exactly one icon per decade, but you get the idea.

And you probably won’t be in the least bit surprised by the icons Porsche has chosen here, with each of the seven cars representing a significant leap forward (or a beginning) for the company.

What’s kind of interesting regarding these choices is that there’s just one race car and all the rest are road cars. Considering Porsche’s long and celebrated motorsport history, we were a bit surprised by this. By now you must be wondering what are the chosen seven? Before we list them and/or you just go ahead and watch the video, let us just say we called four of them immediately because they made complete sense. Here they are in order of introduction: 356, 911, 917, 959, Boxster, Cayenne, 918 Spyder.

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Here's How Porsche Is Celebrating 70 Years Of Sports Cars In Berlin

If you’re a fan of classic Porsches, you may want to make a trip to Berlin.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Porsche’s first ever sports car, the iconic 356. Its landmark anniversary will be commemorated at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, which will see a host of historic Porsche’s tackle the famous hillclimb. Of course, this won’t be the only celebration venue for such a significant birthday. Porsche has announced it will be opening a special "70 Years of Porsche Sports Cars" exhibition in its homeland of Germany.

The exhibition will be open from March 20 at the “Drive. Volkswagen Group Forum” Berlin, as this is where Porsche first received its permit to build the original 356. Best of all, admission is free of charge, so if you’re a fan of classic Porsches, you may want to make the trip. Chronicling Porsche’s extensive history, the exhibition is split across ten sections, including "Origin of the sports car," "Motorsport," and "Sports cars of the future.” Guests will be greeted by a Porsche 356 “No.1” Roadster show car representing the “Origin of the sports car” when they first enter, while Porsche’s first EV, the upcoming Mission E, will represent the brand’s future.

Other iconic cars on display for enthusiasts to drool over include the one-millionth 911 finished in Irish Green, the 917/20 “Pink Pig” Le Mans racer, and a new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo. Porsche will be honoring some of its employees who helped shape the brand in the "70 Years of Passion" section, and fans will be able to take a virtual reality tour of the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo. “The message of our exhibition is this: The spirit of innovation, which over 70 years has made Porsche into one of the world’s most profitable automotive manufacturer, will continue to drive a unique brand experience into the future,” said Achim Stejskal, Director of the Porsche Museum.

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Porsche Reveals Its Top 7 Cars Of The Past 70 Years

You can probably name three off the top of your head.

This is a big year for Porsche. Not only are sales as strong as ever (and growing), but it’s also celebrating its 70th anniversary. Considering the German carmaker started off solely selling a sports car, it’s done phenomenally well over the decades. As the celebration continues into the summer, Porsche has released a new video showcasing seven icons in seven decades. It’s not exactly one icon per decade, but you get the idea.

And you probably won’t be in the least bit surprised by the icons Porsche has chosen here, with each of the seven cars representing a significant leap forward (or a beginning) for the company.

What’s kind of interesting regarding these choices is that there’s just one race car and all the rest are road cars. Considering Porsche’s long and celebrated motorsport history, we were a bit surprised by this. By now you must be wondering what are the chosen seven? Before we list them and/or you just go ahead and watch the video, let us just say we called four of them immediately because they made complete sense. Here they are in order of introduction: 356, 911, 917, 959, Boxster, Cayenne, 918 Spyder.

View the original article here